Questions

'My body feels heavy…'

'I shouldn't have pushed myself that hard in unfamiliar territory…'

Those were my thoughts as I felt myself surrounded by a cold, dark void yet at the same time, something… warm . I knew I had fallen unconscious due to exhaustion yet was still aware of that fact.

Although I had control over my body, it felt like I had heavy weights attached to every part of it, making it feel like I was trudging through a deep swamp or pool.

After struggling to open my eyes, I saw that I was teetering in the middle between a dark, ominous void and a bright and sunny light.

'Am I lucid dreaming or is this some type of vision? Does this represent me as a person or something else?'

'Is whatever happening asking me to make a decision, a path to choose?'

As I kept trying to make heads or tails of the situation, a feeling of drowsiness washed over me once again, clouding my thinking.

As I stood still there as if mesmerized, a faint but gentle and feminine voice brushed past my ears from behind.

"If you aren't fast enough, you'll miss a rare opportunity."

"What…?"

While barely being able to process what was said, my head started to hurt while I felt something slowly pulling me away from the voice. Blinking, I suddenly found the source of whatever was pulling me away appeared not far from me: a gate that was filled with a pitch-black void that it seemed like no light nor darkness could escape from.

'Am I going to fucking die again already?'

The voice seemed amused by my predicament.

"Oh my, it seems that even this is too much for you right now. I'll save the rest for next time then, bye."

"Who… are you?"

While I was able to barely turn my head around to get a look at the source of the voice, I couldn't see anyone while slowly slipping back towards the gate.

The voice wagged a finger as she tsked, or at least that's the impression I got from the tone of her voice.

"Now now, anymore and you'll die from the strain on your soul."

"My soul?"

As I tilted my head in confusion, I suddenly felt something push me towards the gate.

Being pulled through the air towards the gate, I started to lose consciousness but heard the voice speak one last time before I did.

"I'll do a little-something for you, this should prove quite interesting ~indeed~."

'Huh?'

That was my last thought before everything went dark again.

…

[Just who are you?]

Observing the sleeping Rick that was moved to a room with a bed, Alistar couldn't help but mutter out in contemplation.

[Its strange, someone with his caliber of mana and arts manipulation should've been scouted by the government or some big build already.]

But seeing Rick still clutching one of the training daggers despite being unconscious confirmed some out of the many things for Alistar.

[He isn't a spoiled rich brat or from a big guild, his actions from the first two trials shows that he has been in life or death fights. A rich brat couldn't have been that composed. No systematic or formal training either, just some basic street fighting skills.]

[A big guild wouldn't let him come here by himself if they knew of his talent so he either isn't a part of one or snuck away.]

No matter how he thought about it, everything seemed strange about the boy sleeping not far from him.

[Whatever, he was able to come in here so he isn't a lackey of the Heavens. As long as he isn't genocidal maniac or working with the Heavens, I'm fine with whoever.]

…

"Ugh, my head."

Sitting up, I clutched my head in pain with one hand while trying not to do anything to make my headache worse.

Thankfully, it wasn't long before it went away.

'Guess I pushed myself too far… yesterday?'

Finally looking around, I noticed that I was not in the training room.

'Was I moved when I was unconscious? How long was I out?'

The room I was currently in was kinda like a prison cell. It had a bed, nightstand and door but nothing else in it other than a sheath with a strap on the nightstand with a letter.

The sheath seemed to have been made out of the same material the training daggers were, with it looking similar to a dark and lustrous ebony wood. It did have some faint details carved on it, but you couldn't tell without looking deeply at it.

'Hm, is that for the training dagger? Seems kinda pointless since it's not sharp. It'll be useful for keeping my hands free when moving though.'

'Wait a sec…'

Seeing the sheath, I looked at my hand which I realized was holding something.

'I didn't let go of it even as I fell asleep? Heh, old habits die hard I guess.'

Getting up from the bed, I picked up the sheath and letter. Opening the letter, it read:

"Here is a sheath for your training dagger, I'm having a small adjustment made to your other one so I'll give it to you later. Once you are ready, head out of the room. I'll mark a path for you to follow."

'Straight to the point, I see. Geez, maybe at least write about being glad that I'm awake and still healthy or something. Still, I appreciate this.'

After doing some pointless grumbling, I wrapped the sheath around the back of my waist before sliding the training dagger into it.

Seeing that it was secured firmly in place, I left the room. What greeted me was a corridor filled with countless other doors and torches lining the walls with no end in sight.

'What a powerful illusion, just like in the novel.'

I scratched my head as I thought about my next move.

'Alistar said he would mark a path but I don't see anything.'

Trying to see if there was anything different about the countless doors in the corridor, I tried observing them to the best of my ability but couldn't spot any difference between them.

'Screw it, tried doing it the proper way but no dice. Going to cheat a little now.'

Normally, if your sensitivity to mana was high or that you were familiar with and to the principles of illusions you could break through it and find the proper way. Just being at a high rank could suffice as well.

Knowing this, it was pretty obvious that for me who was new to manipulating mana and not actually fully comprehending the subject of illusions, it was safe to say I wouldn't be breaking out of it the right way.

'Now where is the focus point?'

I began to search the corridor again.